![\"\"](\"http:\/\/nccomputertech.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/02\/yahoo_purple_logo-100023869-medium.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/a><\/p>\nThe attack begins with users receiving a spam email with their name in the subject line and a short “check out this page” message followed by a bit.ly shortened link. Clicking on the link takes users to a website masquerading as the MSNBC news site that contains an article about how to make money while working from home, the Bitdefender researchers said Wednesday in a blog post.
\nAt first glance, this seems no different from other work-from-home scam sites. However, in the background, a piece of JavaScript code exploits a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Yahoo Developer Network (YDN) Blog site in order to steal the visitor’s Yahoo session cookie.
\nSession cookies open door
\nSession cookies are unique strings of text stored by websites inside browsers in order to remember logged-in users until they sign out. Web browsers use a security mechanism called the same-origin policy to prevent websites opened in different tabs from accessing each other’s resources, like session cookies. (See also How To Protect Yourself From Supercookies.”)<\/p>\n
The same-origin policy is usually enforced per domain. For example, google.com cannot access the session cookies for yahoo.com even though the user might be logged into both websites at the same time in the same browser. However, depending on the cookie settings, subdomains can access session cookies set by their parent domains. Hackers behind a recently detected email attack campaign are exploiting a vulnerability in a Yahoo website to hijack the email […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[323,821,1265],"class_list":["post-896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","category-software","tag-email","tag-phishing","tag-yahoo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-es","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9031,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2016\/09\/24\/heres-what-you-should-know-and-do-about-the-yahoo-breach\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":0},"title":"Here’s what you should know, and do, about the Yahoo breach","author":"NCCT","date":"September 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Lucian Constantin | IDG News Service | PCWorld Yahoo\u2019s announcement that state-sponsored hackers have stolen the details of at least 500 million accounts shocks both through scale\u2014it\u2019s the largest data breach ever\u2014and the potential security implications for users. That\u2019s because Yahoo, unlike MySpace, LinkedIn and other online services that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8923,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2016\/05\/17\/this-botnet-has-infected-nearly-a-million-devices-since-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":1},"title":"This botnet has infected nearly a million devices since 2014","author":"NCCT","date":"May 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Shawn Knight | TechSpot One of the many ways that cybercriminals earn income is through affiliate advertising programs like Google\u2019s AdSense. Rather than generate traffic through content creation, hackers figure out ways to trick advertising platforms into thinking a partner is sending them legitimate traffic. Not knowing they're being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5958,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/10\/crypto-certificates-impersonating-google-and-yahoo-pose-threat-to-windows-users\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":2},"title":"Crypto certificates impersonating Google and Yahoo pose threat to Windows users","author":"NCCT","date":"July 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"People using Internet Explorer and possibly other Windows applications could be at risk of attacks that abuse counterfeit encryption certificates recently discovered masquerading as legitimate credentials for Google, Yahoo, and possibly an unlimited number of other Internet properties. A blog post published Tuesday by Google security engineer Adam Langley said\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/disguise-kit-640x728.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/disguise-kit-640x728.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/disguise-kit-640x728.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2971,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/17\/tumblr-tells-users-to-change-passwords-patches-security-hole-in-ios-apps\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":3},"title":"Tumblr tells users to change passwords, patches security hole in iOS apps","author":"NCCT","date":"July 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Tumblr, the blogging site recently acquired by Yahoo, has released a security update for its iPhone and iPad apps that it said addresses an issue that allowed passwords to be compromised in certain circumstances. Users of the apps have been advised to update their passwords on Tumblr as there is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9246,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2017\/10\/08\/this-week-in-tech-635-benjis-bag-of-dongles\/","url_meta":{"origin":896,"position":4},"title":"This Week in Tech 635: Benji’s Bag of Dongles","author":"NCCT","date":"October 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/MUI010ec8P4 The guy who created the like button now says it's dangerously addictive. Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos says press doesn't understand how hard it is to prevent voter manipulation. Yahoo admits that hack perpetrated under Yahoo Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos impacted all 3 billion Yahoo users. 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<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThis appears to be the case with Yahoo, where the user remains logged in regardless of what Yahoo subdomain they visit, including developer.yahoo.com.
\nThe rogue JavaScript code loaded from the fake MSNBC website forces the visitor’s browser to call developer.yahoo.com with a specifically crafted URL that exploits the XSS vulnerability and executes additional JavaScript code in the context of the developer.yahoo.com subdomain.
\nThis additional JavaScript code reads the Yahoo user’s session cookie and uploads it to a website controlled by the attackers. The cookie is then used to access the user’s email account and send the spam email to all of their contacts. In a sense, this is a XSS-powered, self-propagating email worm.
\nThe exploited XSS vulnerability is actually located in a WordPress component called SWFUpload and was patched in WordPress version 3.3.2 that was released in April 2012, the Bitdefender researchers said. However, the YDN Blog site appears to be using an outdated version of WordPress.
\nExploit reported, squashed
\nAfter discovering the attack on Wednesday, the Bitdefender researchers searched the company’s spam database and found very similar messages dating back almost a month, said Bogdan Botezatu, a senior e-threat analyst at Bitdefender, Thursday via email.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zapt0.staticworld.net\/images\/article\/2012\/12\/email-scam-100017850-medium.jpg?resize=300%2C198\")
\n“It is extremely difficult to estimate the success rate of such an attack because it can’t be seen in the sensor network,” he said. “However, we estimate that roughly one percent of the spam we have processed in the past month is caused by this incident.”
\nBitdefender reported the vulnerability to Yahoo on Wednesday, but it still appeared to be exploitable on Thursday, Botezatu said. “Some of our test accounts are still sending this specific type of spam,” he said.
\nIn a statement sent later on Thursday, Yahoo said it had patched the vulnerability.
\n“Yahoo takes security and our users’ data seriously,” a Yahoo representative said via email. “We recently learned of a vulnerability from an external security firm and confirm that we have fixed the vulnerability. We encourage concerned users to change their passwords to a strong password that combines letters, numbers, and symbols; and to enable the second login challenge in their account settings.”
\nBotezatu advised users to avoid clicking on links received via email, especially if they are shortened with bit.ly. Determining whether a link is malicious before opening it can be hard with attacks like these, he said.
\nIn this case, the messages came from people the users knew\u2014the senders were in their contact lists\u2014and the malicious site was well-crafted to look like the respectable MSNBC portal, he said. “It is a type of attack that we expect to be highly successful.”
\nvia Yahoo plugs hole that allowed hijacking of email accounts | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"